Georgia: French President Nicolas Sarkozy 'threatened to walk out' of Russia talks

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was only able to secure a fresh commitment from Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia by threatening to walk out of heated talks with senior Kremlin officials.

President Nicolas Sarkozy in conversation with President Dmitry MedvedevPhoto: AP

By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow

3:41PM BST 09 Sep 2008

Mr Sarkozy lost his temper during four hours of negotiations with senior Russian cabinet ministers to clarify the terms of an Aug 12 agreement under which Moscow agreed to pull its troops out of undisputed Georgian territory after last month's five-day war.

Russia was accused of repeatedly flouting the original deal, also brokered by Mr Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union, by advancing troops deeper into undisputed Georgian territory instead of pulling them back.

The French president, seeking to gain a fresh commitment for a troop withdrawal during talks at a hunting lodge outside Moscow, found Russian ministers in a mulish mood, according to senior aides in his office.

According to one official, tempers flared after the Russians, led by foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, tried to remove a reference in the new deal that required a pull back to positions held before the fighting began on August 8.

"At that point Sarkozy got up and said 'We're going. This is not negotiable," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

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But a compromise was reached after Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, was summoned back to the negotiating room.

"When Medvedev came back, he said 'let's calm down'. He didn't suspend the session and he didn't even call Putin," the official said.

During negotiations on Aug 12, Mr Medvedev was forced to call Vladimir Putin to complete talks on the initial ceasefire deal, suggesting that Russia's prime minister retained real power in the country despite stepping down as president in May.

At a joint press conference with Mr Medvedev after the talks, Mr Sarkozy appeared calm - even winking at his foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, as his Russian counterpart read out the terms of the deal.

Yet it is unclear how successful Mr Sarkozy has really been in securing an agreement from Russia that truly respects Georgia's territorial integrity.

While Russia has agreed to pull forces out of undisputed Georgian territory within a month, the Kremlin today announced that it would keep 7,600 troops in the breakaway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia has courted international displeasure by unilaterally recognising the independence of both Georgian provinces.

Speaking this morning, Mr Lavrov said that Russian troops could be stationed in the two regions indefinitely.

"They will remain there for a long time to come," he said. "Their presence will be needed to prevent any relapses of Georgian aggressive actions."

Under the original ceasefire deal, Russia pledged to pull back its troops to positions held before the war began.

While Russian troops were stationed in both provinces as peacekeepers, their numbers were strictly limited. Deploying 7,600 troops would be in contravention of peace deals signed in the 1990s as well as of the Aug 12 accord.

The deployment of Russian soldiers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia risks reinforcing the view that the Kremlin has effectively redrawn Georgia's borders, analysts warn.

The European Union had earlier suspended negotiations on a new partnership agreement with Russia - a process that has dragged on for nearly 10 years - until its troops were pulled back to pre-conflict positions.

But Mr Sarkozy said talks could resume immediately after Russia had pulled out of undisputed Georgian territory rather than withdrawing to pre-conflict positions.

Russian officials today trumpeted that fact as proof of Moscow's victory in the negotiating process as well as in the war with Georgia.

The European Union also appears to have abandoned any thoughts of sanctioning Russia for recognising the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.